this is bbc world news today. i'm lukwesa burak. our top stories. thousands of government supporters march in the venezuelan capital, caracas, as the new constitutional assembly takes office. plugging the leaks. america's attorney general condemns what he calls the staggering level of unauthorised access to classified government information. we will investigate and seek to bring criminals tojustice. we will not allow rogue anonymous sources. . . with security clearances to sell out our country. the heat is on. health warnings across europe as some countries experience the most extreme heat for a decade. and juggling the media attention. neymar, the world's most expensive footballer, says hejoined paris st germain, because he wanted a new challenge. hello, and welcome to bbc world news today.

venezuela's new constituent assembly has been sworn in. their role — as controversially called for by president nicolas maduro — is to re—write the existing constitution. the elected representatives — more than 500 of them, almost all of them allies of the president — gathered in the parliament building for the ceremony in caracas. while, outside, confrontations between police and anti—government protesters have begun. opposition leaders, and leaders internationally, have condemned the venezuelan government's plan as an attempt to strengthen its power. bbc monitoring's luis fajardo is following events from miami. he told me the swearing in of the new assembly was very symbolic. when the leaders walked into the

building carrying the portrait of hugo chavez, the father of the revolution, in the same building that will now hold the pro—government assembly has been the house of the national assembly which has been controlled by the opposition and when they took over the national assembly a couple of yea rs the national assembly a couple of years ago, they made a big deal of removing this portrait of hugo chavez. really set the symbolic effect of showing the pro—government faction taking over one of the last introduced zero bastions of the opposition in venezuela right now. there seems to be some confusion about what happens next in terms of the need for a referendum. explain this process to us. actually that is one of the big issues that no one knows what happens next, because the venezuelan participant assembly has such a degree of power and autonomy they could basically rule that they would not need any further endorsement by any kind of

referendum. in theory they could even replace a president. one of the issues of great uncertainty is the amount of power that is going to be controlled by the constituent assembly. of course the leaders of the assembly who have just been named are closely associated with president nicolas maduro, seen as close allies of this, but there are still a strong degree of uncertainty and that was one of the things the opposition was complaining about, the fact that this is an enormous amount of power that is being given toa amount of power that is being given to a new constituent assembly that is going to rewrite a lot of the constitutional framework in venezuela and the opposition is afraid that they will move against the last bastions of institutional opposition in venezuela. we can cross now to washington to talk to the co—director of the centre for economic and policy research and an expert on the politics and economy of venezuela. thank you forjoining us. of venezuela. thank you forjoining

us. there has been international condemnation and direct reaction as well. we are starting to see the first signs of sanctions against venezuela and president maduro. yes, i think sanctions from the us will further polarise the situation. the problem that the us has is regime change like you had in iraq and syria and afghanistan and libya and this really needs, it has led to disaster and will else and if they keep going in this direction it could push the country into civil war. it is a polarise country. what they really need is negotiations like they had in the fall of last year, and something that leads to elections, of course, as president year, and something that leads to electic some course, as president year, and something that leads to electic some ofurse, as president year, and something that leads to electic some of these as president year, and something that leads to electic some of these sanctions nt year, and something that leads to electic some of these sanctions on years. some of these sanctions on individuals will deprive the government of most of its foreign exchange. one of the officials of

the order companies is, they cannot sign contracts. this is already a serious attempt to destroy the economy and overthrow the government. the secretary of state said it. he said, we are trying to force president maduro to design —— resign, and look at policy options that will get rid of this government. is president maduro good for venezuela? how does the present venezuela defer to the vision previously? that is why they have elections, they have a president elected for the next year, people can elected for the next year, people ca n vote elected for the next year, people can vote him out of office if they wa nt to can vote him out of office if they want to do so like they voted him in. the point that the vast majority of the 7 billion people on the planet would agree with is that a foreign government does not have the right to overthrow the elected government of another country. that is what most people believe what the

trump administration doesn't believe in that. there have been suggestions that there was widespread electoral fraud in the selection. where there observers on the ground in venezuela at the time of the election on sunday? there were some observers. you know, first of all, i don't know that you can really - fraud you know, first of all, i don't know that you can really- fraud if inflated the turnout. this was they inflated the turnout. this was not a competitive election between the government and the opposition. not a competitive election between the governmer didn't he opposition. éis g. f%ff'ei% firf mg: ff%%'%12¥— lg; sure that. did. they ¥%ff'el% firf ma: ffaélalft la; sure that. did. they have not sure that they did. they have posted all the numbers for the individual races and they do seem to add up to about what the government claimed. it would be very hard to fix this. so we don't really know what the totals are, but even if it did happen, that is not the same thing as stealing an election from

your rival power, and that is not justify it at all. it would be terrible if those numbers were inflated, but it doesn't affect relations between the government and the opposition. i'm not defending what the governments do. i wasn't in favour of this assembly, either. the point is that we need calm voices, people are calling for dialogue and negotiation, people within the opposition do favour that but they are not in the ascendancy right now. right now it is the hardliners, the ones who want regime change by any means, and lopez himself, by the way, he was arrested because he called on a video for the military to rebel and to stop providing security for president maduro himself. we're going to have to stop

you there, sorry about that, thank you there, sorry about that, thank you very much. let's take you to caracas. we can show you this scene live now. this is at the new assembly. unfortunately, we haven't got those scenes, but there are reports of some protests that have been taking place by opposition supporters. many of the leaks have been about the trump campaign and their alleged links to russia. the fbi chief investigator into this has stepped up investigator into this has stepped up his inquiry. donald trump is never happier than when is out of washington. this is where he belongs. an adoring crowd in west virginia, the problems of russia, collusion, special counsel and grand juries are a long way from

the country roads. the russia story is a totalfabrication. it is just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of american politics. that is all it is. he didn't mention the special counsel by name but had him in his sights when he said this. i just hope the final determination is a truly honest one. will come to the conclusion that the evidence doesn't add up to much and there's no need further action. investigatien iaintensifying

today, the attorneyfienetal this nation must put an end to these leaks. we will not allow rogue sources to sell out our country. the president visited the emergency centre for hurricans. with this grand jury, one could soon be barrelling towards donald trump. let's take a look at some of

the other stories making the news. the us economy has seen strong jobs growth thanks to a wave of hiring in the hospitality industry. 209,000 jobs were created injuly. more than had been expected. president trump has welcomed the news, tweeting. .. excellent jobs numbers just released — and i have onlyjust begun. south korea's spy agency has admitted it tried to manipulate the result of the 2012 presidential election to ensure a conservative candidate won. park geun—hye did beat liberal moonjae—in, but she is now facing trial for corruption and abuse of power. mr moon has replaced her. researchers warn that half of india's nearly 800 languages are in danger of dying out. experts says children from linguistic minorities or indigenous communities aren't educated in their mother tongue, and there's little incentive for following generations to keep the languages alive. parts of southern europe are suffering from the hottest

sustained heatwave for more than a decade. temperatures have reached 45 degrees celsius in some parts of italy and the balkans and several countries have issued health warnings. several countries have issued vadillo health warnings and some regions are contending with drought and forest fires. sophie long reports. planes putting out while files in corsica. last week the north of the mediterranean island burned, and now it is the turn of the cell. the extreme heat has sparked wild fires across europe. swathes of the south of france are scorched. now in hungary, too. here, hundreds of hectares of grasslands burnt. firefighters battled to put out planes before —— flames before they spread to urban areas. italy is experiencing its worst drought in 60 yea rs. experiencing its worst drought in 60 years. thousands of tourists travel there every year in search of sunshine but the intense heat means

people are desperately searching for shade. we find some nice weather this year but it is not as hot, nowhere near, making sure that we just drink lots of water. it is fantastic having the water fountains around rome. across the country 26 major towns and cities are on heat alert. hospitaladmissions major towns and cities are on heat alert. hospital admissions have increased by 15%. the prolonged drought has affected the agriculture industry to the tune of billions with 11 regions facing critical water shortages. all of crops are 50% lower than normal. it's a silly beaches are quieter than usual, as people follow the lead of the locals and stay indoors. others do what they can to protect themselves and keep cool, as forecasters see no respite in the coming days. still to come we talk to the

national geographic photograph —— photographer of the year took this explosive shot of a volcano in mexico. this is bbc world news today. the latest headlines. thousands of venezuelan government supporters have attended the swearing—in of the controversial new constituent assembly as protesters opposed to it confront police. the us attorney general, jeff sessions, has announced a tougher approach towards dealing with leaks of classified government information, saying he won't hesitate to bring criminal charges. a british computer expert who stopped the worldwide cyber attack has been arrested by the fbi. marcus hutchins is accused of creating softwa re hutchins is accused of creating software to steal bank details. the

charge is not related to the piece of malware he disarmed in may after it affected tens of thousands of computers in 150 countries. marcus hutchins was arrested in las vegas after spending a week partying in the desert city. he had been attending a cyber security conference. he was detained minutes before he was due to board a flight home at las vegas international airport. in the cyber security industry he is regarded as something ofa industry he is regarded as something of a folk hero for his role in stopping the so—called wannacry virus which hit the nhs in may before spreading to 150 countries. but he is accused in an indictment laid down in the us state of wisconsin of creating software which was designed, the prosecutors say, to harvest online banking details and credit card data. the software

is called chronos and was used in a number of countries including france, the uk, the us and canada. he is due to appear in court in las vegas. he has some support within the cyber security industry and from his motherjanet hutchins, who said he spent an enormous amount of his time trying to combat these kind of problems, to improve security on the web, and she says the charges against him are outrageous. time for the sport with will bury. starting with the latest from the world athletics championships in london. usain bolt making his final appearance on the global stage back at the stadium where he won those gold medals five years ago at london 2012. he has been in action in the 100 metres eats ahead of the semifinal tomorrow. he won his heat with a time of 10.0 seconds, but described his performance as a very bad, and he is unhappy with the

starting blocks. not at his best, but you usain bolt, importantly, into the semifinals of the world athletics championships. mo farah has fond memories of the stadium, he won gold in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres four years ago, and is about a run in the next couple of minutes in the 10,000 metres final. 25 laps, it starts at 9:20pm uk time. also tonight a big upset in the long jump. the olympic champion jeff henderson of the us able not be coming back to the final. he could only manage a jump of 7.74 metres. that was in his finaljump. not enough to make the cut tomorrow. he's not a happy man. there has been abuzzin he's not a happy man. there has been abuzz in paris because of that man, the world record signing, neymar, for psg, paraded in the city, and hundreds queueing at the club shop to buy shirts with his name on the

back. he gave his only british media interview to our correspondent richard conway, and he told him that it was a wrench to leave barcelona. translation: the decision was difficult to take. during the month i was thinking about all this. but then my heart told me that i had to follow it. and i took the decision andl follow it. and i took the decision and i am very happy to be here. there has been so much said about this transfer this week. the world is talking about it, and also about the amount of money involved, the huge transfer the. lots of people saying that perhaps you are doing this for the money, that that is your motivation. what do you say to that? translation: i have nothing to say to those people. if people think that way, it is because they do not know me, they do not know my life andl know me, they do not know my life and i regret that they think that way. i did not come over here for

the money. i came here for the motivation of the challenge. you are morally comfortable with this. you area morally comfortable with this. you are a religious man? translation: i could not be unhappy. how could i be? in the final day of the test between england and south africa there were half centuries for joe root and ben stokes. they faced some disciplined south african bowling. england were 216 to six at the close. you always want for hundred at any test match and having lost ben stokes at the close, if we can get 350 we would be taking that right now. 350 plus, we'll was won to try to get as close to 400 as possible. maybe that last wicket might knock a few for that. a round

of 60 included an eagle. she is 11 under par at the halfway stage, two shots clear of the field. the us open champion stan wawrinka will not be defending his title. he needs an operation on his knee and that will keep him out of the rest of the season. he said it was the only solution to make sure that he could continue to compete at the top level. mo farah is underway, still 24 and a bit laps to go! the results of the national geographic travel photographer competition are in. 15,000 voters were entered from more than 30 countries. it is a coveted title for photographers, which can catapult them into international photography stardom. the grand prize this year went to an incredible shot ofa this year went to an incredible shot of a lightning strike on the

erupting volcano on mexico's west coast. let's take a look at the winners' list. aren't they beautiful? according to the photographer who took the winning photographer, taking a picture like his takes a lot of patience. he has photographed the volcano over 300,000 times over the yea rs. volcano over 300,000 times over the years. a lot of patience. i have 15 yea rs years. a lot of patience. i have 15 years taking photos of the big volcano, and this was from 2015, in december. if you want to have a good picture of a volcano, you have to analyse all the time what the volcano is doing so in december, i

was 20 nights outside of my home, just trying to get a good picture, but i didn't know that i was going to get this kind of picture. it is a magical moment, because it has a big lightning and this lightning makes the whole scenario bright. it is an amazing picture. and of course i am very happy, as a mexican, as a latin american photographer, because it is a strange kind of picture. it is not very common to take pictures of lightning. that's wonderful. stay with us, more coming up. good evening. we will have an update

on the extreme weather we are seeing around europe and across north america. we will begin ourjourney in south—east asia. this is not the time of year to be going on holiday to thailand. we get lots of rain due to thailand. we get lots of rain due to the south—westerly monsoon, which is bringing lots of rain to northern parts of the philippines. the warm, wet winds have brought as much as 200 millimetres of rain in 24 hours south of manila, likely to be more flooding. further north, in the west pacific, you can see the eye of that typhoon, typhoon noro, which has been wandering south of japan, where the winds have dropped a little bit, but it is still a strong typhoon. the winds could be gusting 120 miles an hour in the next 24 hours, and we have seen big waves, a dangerous well and a storm surge around the pacific coast. that may strengthen before making landfall, probably

sunday night, then bringing those flooding rains into my pity. there has been almost a month reign in 24 hours in cross city in florida, i'm sure it's inhabited are not amused. there are still some rain around. that should begin to ease off later in the day. it is cooler for the time of year across the central plains. there could be some rather heavy showers. still hot out towards the west although temperatures should drop off in the pacific northwest. we still have some high temperatures and poor air quality due to the wildfires. the heat continues across southern parts of europe. warnings across parts of italy, into the balkans, across hungary, into southern poland. to the north, what a contrast. this weather front marks the boundary between the heat in the south and

more cool, windy and fresh and rainy weather in the north. there could be some showers over the mountains of turkey. still a bit of a breeze blowing through the aegean sea, but lighter than elsewhere, and the real heat is into the balkans and parts of romania and poland, and it has been particularly hot in sardinia and sicily. also some very high temperatures at this time of year for southern spain. at home, we won't see temperatures like that. it will probably be a bit cooler on saturday across england and wales. that's because we will find more cloud across the uk on saturday. maybe some sunshine, but there will be some heavy showers also. dry on sunday for england and wales, but is there any settled weather insight? stay tuned. we'll have more on that later. hello, this is bbc world news. the

headlines. venezuela's controversial assembly has been inaugurated despite widespread criticism at home and abroad. the swearing in ceremony came if the opponent ‘s with police. america's eternaljourneyjeff sheth and has condemned what he called the staggering number of leaks and president trump took office. he said the leaks president trump took office. he said the lea ks have president trump took office. he said the leaks have been united state and undermined government attempts to protect the country. health warnings have been issued across europe as the dangerous heatwave continues. in parts of italy, spain and balkans, temperatures have soared into the high 40s. some regions are contending with drug and forest fires. the world's most expensive